A wild haymaker for the masses, perhaps, but a knockout read for capes-and-cowls aficionados.
A smart, blow-by-blow narrative of the sometimes-friendly, often bitter rivalry between corporate comic-book behemoths.
When Superman debuted in 1938, no one could have predicted that he and his underwear-on-the-outside brethren would eventually come to dominate the entertainment landscape. Journalist Tucker (co-author: Duke Sucks: A Completely Evenhanded, Unbiased Investigation into the Most Evil Team on Planet Earth, 2012) makes a compelling case that the rise of the superhero in popular culture is perhaps best understood by exploring the evolution of the two companies that created and proliferated those heroes: DC Comics, the upright and staid publishers of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, and Marvel Comics, the hipper, edgier purveyors of Spider-Man, the Avengers, and the X-Men. The author provides an essential primer on how these companies’ comics evolved from four-color funny books for kids to complicated, carefully curated content aimed at an aging comics cognoscenti to intellectual property laboratories for multinational entertainment conglomerates. Comic-book fans will revel in the minutiae of Tucker’s account, from stories of artists using pen names in the early days of the rivalry to collect a paycheck from both sides without incurring the wrath of their primary employer to alleged acts of spying in the wake of both companies simultaneously publishing stories of startling similarity (on multiple occasions, no less). Comics neophytes will undoubtedly get lost in the voluminous list of creators cited throughout the book and be astonished by the lack of business acumen displayed by various editorial regimes. However, even they will be able to appreciate the salacious significance of DC’s secret overtures to Stan Lee at the height of his Marvel fame and the way in which each company’s corporate culture, not to mention the machinations of their parent companies and investors, contributed to the current state of superhero ubiquity—even as the comic publishing industry itself dwindles.
A wild haymaker for the masses, perhaps, but a knockout read for capes-and-cowls aficionados.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-306-82546-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Da Capo
Review Posted Online: July 11, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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